To increase travellers' awareness of the environmental value of their choice to travel by train, our train tickets are marked on the back with the average CO2 emissions for two typical routes, when travelled by train, car and plane. The client, if he or she is a subscriber to the Trenitalia loyalty card, can convert the CO2 emissions saved by travelling by train into Green Points which are added to the normal loyalty points, and can be used to get free tickets and prizes.
Since March 2012, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane has been printing its tickets on paper certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®). Thanks to an agreement with Postel SpA, the supplier of the tickets themselves, around 10 millions tickets issued every month have been certified to this important standard. The Forest Stewardship Council and an authoritative international NGO, present in more than 50 countries, independent and non-profit, and certifies the use of paper made with cellulose harvested exclusively from sustainably managed forests and recycling.
The standards of the FSC guarantee that the forest maintain their natural capacity to regenerate themselves and that local populations, which benefit from the trade in wood and other forest products, see their habitat and rights given the respect they deserve.
This initiative translates into 120 million sustainable tickets a year, the equivalent of around 360 tons of paper, equal to almost 2 square kilometres of paper or a stack of tickets almost three times as tall as Mount Everest, as heavy as a Frecciargento train and capable of covering 270 football fields.
The promotion of sustainable forestry reduces CO2 emissions, exactly as we do whenever we decide to take the train rather than drive or fly. The new green, sustainable railway ticket is thus yet another reason to travel by train and preserve the delicate balance of the ecosystem.